Dubai
Fishermen rowing away into the blue distance, or in a boat, anchored right below the bridge you are standing on… in both these snapshots, how you manage the space around your subject is crucial.
Your subject can fill your frame up entirely, or remain a small part of a much larger composition, that gives viewers a sense of the vastness of the environment.
In a video blog, renowned travel photographer Bob Holmes advises budding photographers to “develop and educate your eye through other visual media”. This gives you more ideas and opens up your mind so that you can decide on how to frame your subject, and what to do with the space around it.
For Holmes, a passionate interest in 20th century painting drove him to create interesting frames. What drives you?
Another useful tip comes from National Geographic’s photography blog: “When you decide what makes you want to photograph a place, think of adjectives to describe it—and include a detail in your photograph that conveys that adjective.”
Having this sense of direction can give your photograph more layers and meaning. Our reader photographers attempted and succeeded in doing this, in April’s Reader Picture Competition.
We asked Gulf News’ twitter followers to pick their favourite reader photograph of the month. They retweeted the picture they liked best. The pictures were ranked based on the highest number of retweets. Here, we present the winners.
Editor’s note: Do you want to participate in our monthly Reader Picture Competition? Send us your best photographs, with captions, at readers@gulfnews.com.
FIRST PLACE
Shiraj Jacob is a financial advisor, based in Dubai.
His winning photograph was captured along Umngot River, in Meghalaya, India. He said: ‘The river is crystal clear and the scenic beauty of this place cannot be expressed in words. I took this picture from a hanging bridge. Standing on the bridge was really scary, because of the wind and the rain lashing at it. I had to wait for more than one hour to take this shot. The rain stopped and I was lucky a boat had anchored right under the bridge. I think it was worth the wait.’
His picture received 39 retweets and 32 likes on twitter, landing him in first place.
SECOND PLACE
Jithesh Sundar is based in Dubai.
He took this photograph in the backwaters of Kerala, India. He said: ‘I wanted to show a day in the life of a fisherman. Even before the sun rises and warms the sea, there are men at work, braving the elements. The fishermen set out in the middle of the night or very early in the morning, depending on what type of catch they are looking for.’
His picture garnered 19 retweets and 14 likes.
THIRD PLACE
Danish Naduthodi is an accountant, based in Dubai.
His winning photograph was part of a picture essay on the Showka Dam in Ras Al Khaimah. He called it a ‘future tourist hot spot’, as more and more hikers, mountain bikers and sightseers are discovering it every day. He said: ‘I took this picture from the top of a mountain with my zoom lens. My experience with photography and Nature have taught me that spotting the presence of people, animals or birds in a natural frame, has a particular sort of beauty.’
Naduthodi’s picture received 11 retweets and 20 likes on twitter.
